Beast
by FictionRiot
Summary: Such is the struggle of life as a monster
1. Chapter 1

His legs were sore. His mouth was dry and sticky. And the constant barrage of frigid air from the fan confirmed that it was time to move. He rolled over onto his back and swiveled off of his bed. The carpet of garments was warm and soft, dampening the shortfall. He rubbed the gunk out of his eyes and squinted out the window at the fresh blue light of a new day. Waiting for him in the kitchen was a tray of muffins, each one decorated with shreds of almond. The almonds disguised their gummy, dry flavor, the kind usually generated by the beef byproducts and cold gravy of Alpo. His thin fingers grasped the refrigerator handle and tugged, revealing many raw ingredients. What he wanted was the milk, but he knew that it was off limits. His eyes closed tightly shut and opened again before closing the door. He wasn't going to eat anything. The dog started to whine so he turned around and opened the cage, the dog, overjoyed, ran to the door. He opened it and sat down on the cold cement step. He gazed ahead, admiring the dog, dashing around the grassy yard. A fly landed on his arm, catching his attention. He glanced down at his arm, and started to follow it down to his hand. He stared at it for a bit. Three fingers, he felt his face. Bone. He felt himself in space and dragged his foot towards him, propping him up.

"Maurice? Maurice! Get over here _now_."

He sighed and went back into the house, letting the screen door slam behind him. His parent was standing in the kitchen, holding a broken plate.

"Why?"

Maurice shrugged, "I didn't do that."

"Really? Because it's just you and me, and I didn't do that."

"Alright?"

"You need to stop forcing things into the cabinet. You are very strong, and you don't know how strong you are."

Maurice grabbed his arm behind his back and looked at the floor. "Sorry…"

"Just don't do it again. Here." They opened the case and tossed him a muffin, "Eat."

He begrudgingly snatched the baked good out of his guardian's hand and stuffed it in his mouth. The dryness of the muffin almost choked him and he ran to get some water. Without thinking, he went for a glass in the cabinet, but, in his haste, dropped it on the linoleum floor. His guardian didn't hear, they were in the shower. Maurice quickly picked up the glass in clumps and threw it down the drain.

The train station was frigid. Overhead wires buzzed softly against the gentle breeze. Streetlights were still illuminated in the sunrise, and rain drizzling over top of Maurice's head. He pulled one of his headphones out of his long, antenna-like ears to listen for anyone who might be telling him to move out of his seat. It was something that he was afraid of, especially during the winter season. The only place under cover were the seats, everywhere else was exposed and wet. He looked down at his feet, and let them collapse on their sides. The rain had cleaned the dirt from his soles. Bright lights from the train could be seen in the distance, muted somewhat by the water falling from the sky. The train shuddered and squealed to a halt, the first out of four cars coming to a stop just in front of Maurice. He got up from his metal bench and donned his raincoat hood. His ears pushed through two tears in the top of the hood. The doors silently opened and he stepped on. The floor was ridged and cold, directing the water down into the trains middle and out the sides. There was a sign on the trains inner wall that Maurice looked at every time he boarded. It was a white sticker, with a red no symbol on it. Under the no symbol was a black circle with two horns sprouting out of it. He knew what this meant, though every day he would try and pretend that it meant something else. Maurice started to feel himself grabbing the support bar as the train ascended onto it's bridge. The view was amazing - to him at least - he could see most of midtown. It was calm. Not a lot of people were out, and there was a train running perpendicular under him. He felt both of his fingers grip the bar tighter as the train took a gradient curve back onto the ground. The train began to slow, and then stopped violently. Maurice was thrown back into the door panel, buckling onto the floor afterwards. He looked at his headphone jack. It was bent, hanging loosely out the top of his phone.

"Fuck" he whispered to himself.

Maurices school was a small one, only about four-hundred students or so. As such the school was not really packed with kids, it was calmer. Maurice was deep in thought, and was interrupted by a deep voice.

"It's wednesday my dude."

Maurice smiled as best he could. "Do want me to scream now, can I scream?"

His friend chuckled, "Did you sit down today?"

"Nah."

"Why not?"

"Dude, Syd, I'm not you okay. I'm not 'human'"

Syd furrowed his brow, "You're still a person."

Maurice felt the inside of his hand, and looked at the ground. He looked back up at Syd, who was on his phone at this point, his long blonde hair concealing his face. Maurice giggled.

"I've been listening to MRI sounds all this morning." He lied.

Syd laughed, "That's my fuckin jam dude." He dabbed. Maurice felt a pang of sadness and his smile faded. It was almost time for class and he still hadn't had any water.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, see ya." He said before running down the hall to the bathroom. He descended on the water fountain and gobbled tons of water. He trundled into the restroom and gazed into the mirror. The thing that always confused him was the fact that he had no flesh on his face. It was dry - save for the rain - and was just bone. He had scraggly fur growing from his stomach to his head, it turned from white to black as it climbed up his body. His eyes were completely white, with the closest thing to a pupil being a black circle devoid of color. His eyes darted around, studying each of his features. Maurices eyelids drooped after a moment and he slinked on to his first class

"Could you pass that over here Maurice?" Asked a peer. Maurice fumbled with a stack of papers and pinched one in-between his fingers before handing the stack of worksheets to the person at the adjacent table. He picked up a pencil and scrawled his name on the top. He erased and tried again - his name was not mlrice. This time was better, so he left it. He looked up from his paper, ignoring the instructor, and staring at the pile of tentacles and slime resting in the chair across from him. The class was mostly humans, save for him and Gastheng - the creature across from him. He knew Gastheng couldn't see him, so he continued to stare, examining all of the folds and creases in the creatures pale body. He looked back down at his own and knocked on wood.

Come lunch time, Maurice headed down to Louise's classroom to organize his club. Wizdom closely followed him, GameCube and controllers in tow.

"Are you excited?! We 'bout to fuck these bitches up."

Maurice thought about his fingers and panicked a little. He went from his own hands to Gastheng and prayed a second time. He glanced behind him and saw the creature slamming his tentacle legs on the ground, slowly stomping his way towards Maurice. He knew what was coming.

"You need to chill with that man, he wasn't as lucky as you." Wiz said, rolling his eyes.

"You act like it's a blessing."

"No I'm just saying, he likes the club, just be nice."

"I am, he's just...weird."

Maurice thought about his future and shuddered.

By the time school was over, Maurice was ready to fall asleep. The still pitter-pattering rain and dark sky didn't help either. He knew he had to walk home today. He was out of tickets and money. Some of his friends had urged him to ride without but it was too risky. Each step was carefully placed as to not end up in a puddle, the absence of music forcing the sound of impact into his ears as a dull _thud, thud._ His bag weighing heavily on his shoulder. Every so often someone would pass, giving plenty of space between him and the passerby. He was admiring the sky when a phone call interrupted his train of thought.

"Hello?" He growled.

"Hey man!" A distorted voice from the other side, "Wanna chill tomorrow?"

"Sure, when?"

No reply. Maurice pulled his phone away from his face to see if he disconnected. When he pulled it away a picture of a gruff looking beast appeared. The beast was staring just off to the side of the camera, his eyes wide open in shock. On the top in blue it said "Skip."

"Sure, when?" Maurice repeated.

"I dunno probably around four?"

"Sure, I'll come to your house."

"Sounds good."


	2. Chapter 2

"No no no, you have to play it even man. It's not that hard."

"Sorry." Skip replied. They were in Skip's garage. It was filled with recording equipment and instruments, from trumpets to electric bass guitars to drums. Skip held a trumpet in his giant mitts, the bell and valves were visibly scratched and dulled from his claws. Maurice stared at Skips two tour giant fangs, two of which jutting out from his upper jaw, and two of them protruding from his lower jaw, and wondered how he could play the trumpet. Thier drummer, Ref, was standing up scolding Skip. Ref was a tall guy. He looked much older than he actually was. He had thick, wavy black hair that he had to constantly flip out of the way of his vision. Ref had been drumming with them for a while now, and Skip had known him for years before Maurice. Their pianist, Koppel, was on his phone. Maurice assumed he was looking at memes or something of the like. Koppel was another monster, but he was less twisted and hulking. For the most part, Koppel was normal. The only thing that really set him apart were his milky white, blank eyes and long beak. He was a strange one because there was no real distinction of where it started because his entire body was covered with thin, yellow fur. Maurice pulled out his phone to check what time it was. 5:42. He had to be home in an hour. The neighborhood didn't like monsters out past dark.

"Guys." He interjected, "Can we get like, one more song in before I have to go? I don't want to show up the Cheaters without some CD's."

Ref rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers in Koppels face. "Stop looking at memes."

As Koppel started to pick out his notes and Ref started hammering out a beat, Maurice stared at Skip. He wasn't wearing anything except for a pair of swim trunks. He couldn't wear anything else, he was too big. Skip was busy looking a Ref for queues and started to play when Ref simplified the beat. Skip was constantly moving about while he played. Maurice felt a pang of guilt. Skip's heart wasn't strong enough to get the blood out of his legs and back up to his body, and as a result, blood pooled in his ankles. Maurice realized it was his queue to start playing, so he placed his mouth on the reed of his saxophone and started playing. Skip backed off and observed Maurice playing. Ref simplified the beat further. A gentle humming came from Maurices instrument, and he started to close his eyes. Ref added the hi hat back in and Skip joined as well. Their melodies danced and weaved in-between each others, and Maurice felt his mind let go. Then, as soon as it started, it was over, and Ref and Koppel carried the sound out to it's slow and tranquil end. Skip started to clap, and Maurice followed. Koppel chuckled and Ref stood up from his throne and bowed. Koppel the most skilled in the group, Ref a close second.

"I'm gonna go grab a soda from inside, do you guys want anything?" Skip asked.

"Maurice?" Ref questioned.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?" Skip interrupted. "Something on my face?"

Maurice caught himself and nervously said "No...I was just spacing out, sorry."

Skip paused, "No problem man." And left the room.

Ref immediately fell on the floor and lost it.

"What?" Maurice asked, feigning confusion.

"Nothing man don't worry about it." Koppel said, answering for his incapacitated friend.

Maurice shrugged and went back onto his phone.


End file.
